Your favorite golf course

When you were in Ireland, did you get to play the K Club?

I have a standing tee-time if I ever get over there.

 

Favorite to play: Stone Mountain Golf Club, Stone Mountain GA:

Just a lot of fun. First five holes are pretty much all along the lake and hugged tightly by pine trees; the back nine mixes in the stone that makes up the terrain with the bermuda fairways and the sand bunkers.

Oh, and one tip: the putts always break to the mountain.

Fave as a spectator: Augusta National, Augusta, GA.

It's not Iowa; it's Georgia. And it is heaven.

 

Favorites I've played:

Shoal Creek Country Club, Birmingham
Atlanta Country Club
Muirfield, Dublin, Ohio
Harbor Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, SC
Turtle Point Yacht Club, Killen, AL

 

My top 5:
1) Royal Portrush, Northern Ireland -- a couple of the most magnificent holes you'll ever see.
2) The Honors Course, Chattanooga -- awesome golf course in the most peaceful setting you can imagine; can't hear nearby traffic; no corporate or industrial noise; no airplanes — nothing except a couple of babbling brooks.
3) Shinnecock Hills, Southampton, N.Y. -- not one yard of cart paths. You can stand on the first tee, look out over Long Island Sound and picture that someone standing in the same spot 100 years ago saw exactly the same thing.
4) Prairie Dunes, Hutchinson, Kan. -- terrific collection of golf holes and, when the wind blows, it'll test all your golfing skills. There's nothing contrived on the property. Oh, and the kitchen turns out the world's BEST fried chicken; it alone is worth the trip.
5) Spyglass, Pebble Beach, Calif. -- the first couple of holes that wind down to the dunes and shore . . . what a treat!

 

Pine Creek - two courses, some water hazards, a nice layout..
Aerial views of the courses can be seen here: http://www.pinecreekgolf.com/aerial.html

 

I was able to play here for free when I was in college. I was just a valet, but it was a hell of a job.

http://paradisevalleycc.com/

If you ever have some time to kill in Central Virginia and $30 bucks in your pocket, then give this course a try.

http://www.thevistalinks.com/

 

True Story;

I played golf last month at Braeburn Golf Course (Wichita States Course) in Wichita. I was by myself.

Gentlemen was just loading his clubs in a cart, and asked me if I was by myself, and wanted to know if I wanted to tee it up with him.

I said sure.

As he is going to the first tee-box, I noticed his clubs were hickory-shafts.

He plays in hickory only tournaments all over the U.S., and switched to hickory only about 10 years ago.

This gentlemen is from somewhere in Nebraska, and is on a mission to play golf in all 50 states. Only states he has not played in is Alaska, and New York.

Only reason he is saving New York for last is because (this is what he told me) that the oldest course in America is in New York State, and ironically called St. Andrews.

Fascinating man.

Oh, and he shot 75 too. Guy didn't hit it all that far, but with the hickory shafts, and a tiny club head, every shot had to be struck perfectly, and they were.

 

Chef, I would love to read a story online about that guy.

 

I can't remember the guy's name off the top of my head, but I have his business card at the house.

When I find it, I'll pm it to you.

 

Front Royal Country Club

 

Don't know how true it is but West Virginia lays claim to the first golf course in America; Oakhurst Links in White Sulphur Springs.
www.oakhurstlinks.com

 

Four I've played
1) Oakland Hills
2) Hazeltine
3) Interlachen
4) Michigan
5) Signal Point